PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: No looking back for Wilfork

Veteran defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said he won't look at the past. He's only looking forward in his comeback from a torn Achilles last year.

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

FOXBORO – Pain?

Vince Wilfork experienced plenty last year.

This year?

“I’m looking forward,” the veteran defensive tackle said following the Patriots’ first training camp practice on Thursday. “Right now, I just feel good. I don’t know what’s going to happen further down the road, but right now I feel good. I’m happy to be out here with my teammates.”

Right now, Wilfork has time for neither the pain nor the past.

“I’m a big believer in the past is the past,” said Wilfork. “I don’t dwell on the past. I can just tell you about now.

“Right now, it’s the start of camp and we’re all excited. There are things we can learn from the past, but at the same time, they’re things we just have to do better. Whatever it may be, and Bill (head coach Bill Belichick) knows what it is, but for us right now at the start of camp coming in, it’s ground zero.”

When last we saw Wilfork in a game, he was lying on the ground at Georgia Dome last Sept. 29, his season over due to a torn right Achilles’ tendon.

Less than 10 months later, amidst questions regarding whether a man his age (he’ll be 33 in November) and weight (he’s listed at 325) can return to form, the five-time Pro Bowler was back on the field for his team’s first practice of the summer.

“I just have to prove I can come out and give my team what they need,” said Wilfork. “That’s what I have to prove. Me as a person, I’ve never been a selfish player. I was a team player.

“If I wanted to be selfish, I could have been a shot putter. I’ve done that. I was a state champion shot putter (his 68-foot throw at Santaluces High set the Florida state high school record), but it wasn’t my thing. My thing was to be with teammates, a good group of guys, and we’re all working toward one goal and that’s to be able to win and push one another. That’s why I chose football.

“For me to prove anything, no; I have to prove to my teammates they can trust me when the (game) is on the line. They have to do the same thing with me,” said Wilfork. “It starts now. Camp is the platform for everything. If you can get a better football team in camp, you’ll be pretty decent.”

Raves for Revis: Belichick gave veteran cornerback Darrelle Revis what amounts to a rave review at the outset of his first New England camp.

“Revis has been fine,” the head coach said. “He’s worked hard (and is a) smart guy. I’m been impressed with him.

“(He’s) very professional. (He) has a good understanding of the game, he’s a smart player, and he’s had a real good focus and instinct. He’s a smart player scheme-wise, but he knows how to play. He’s a very instinctive player.”